Free Republicans

Free Republicans
Wolni Republikanie
LeaderPaweł Kukiz[1]
Marek Jakubiak[2]
Founded16 October 2024[3]
Preceded byKukiz'15[2]
IdeologyAgrarianism[4]
Conservatism[5]
Right-wing populism[6]
Polish nationalism[7]
Political positionRight-wing[8]
National affiliationFreedom and Prosperity
Federation for the Republic
Colors
  •   Blue
Sejm
4 / 460
Senate
0 / 100
European Parliament
0 / 53
Regional assemblies
0 / 552
Website
marekjakubiak2025.pl

Free Republicans (Polish: Wolni Republikanie; WR, Republikanie) is a right-wing political party[8] and a parliamentary group in the Sejm of Poland, founded on 18 October 2024 by Kukiz’15 members.

History

[edit]

In the Kukiz'15 circle, which became the Free Republicans, sat Kukiz'15 deputies: Paweł Kukiz (leader), and also Marek Jakubiak and Jarosław Sachajko; since 24 July 2024 Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski, who left Law and Justice to found Freedom and Prosperity on 19 September 2024,[9] was also a party member. The party name alludes to the United States Republican Party.[10]

On 25 September 2024, a press conference was held in the Sejm, where Witold Gadowski and Wojciech Sumliński from There is One Poland, Marcin Dybowski [Wikidata] from Freedom and Prosperity, and representatives from Rural Solidarity, "Samoobrona" agricultural trade union and the All-Polish Grassroots Farmers' Protest appeared alongside Kukiz'15 members.[11][12]

On 16 October 2024 the Kukiz'15 circle transformed into the Free Republicans circle,[13] and its leader became Marek Jakubiak.[14] Twelve days later it announced it will contest the 2025 Polish presidential election with Marek Jakubiak as its candidate.[15] In the election, Jakubiak sought to promote the party and appeal to conservative and Polish diaspora circles.[5] There were minor conflicts inside the party in the presidential campaign, as Jakubiak had a friendly attitude towards the main Polish right-wing party Law and Justice, while Kukiz, the co-leader of Free Republicans, distanced himself from both Law and Justice and Jakubiak's overtures to them.[16] In the first round, Jakubiak finished 10th, winning 0.77% of the popular vote.[17]

After the first round, all MPs of the party endorsed Karol Nawrocki, an independent candidate supported by Law and Justice.[18] Kukiz said that supporting Nawrocki is necessary to prevent the Tusk government from abusing the law to suppress its political opponents, and called on both right-wing and left-wing movements to support Nawrocki.[19] Similarly, Jakubiak argued that it is necessary to support Nawrocki to prevent Poland from becoming a "banana republic" of the European Union.[20]

Ideology

[edit]

Free Republicans are considered right-wing,[8] and conservative.[5] Kukiz described Free Republicans as a party with a goal "to unite all those people who have a patriotic worldview and who either did not vote or, for various reasons, did not vote for PiS in the previous elections" and "to create a force that will remove cosmopolitans and bad people from power."[6] On behalf of the party, Sachajko stated that Free Republicans prioritize Polish families, support motherhood, and oppose immigration.[21] The party describes itself as conservative, patriotic, pro-independence, connected with the Christian tradition and concerned with Polish agriculture.[4]

According to Jakubiak, Free Republicans have the same proposals and program that Kukiz'15 had been pursuing before. The party's programmatic demands listed by Jakubiak include the establishment of an Institution of Judicial Justice, introduction of general election for Attorney General, and the establishment of a mechanism that will allow for a recall of the Polish president.[3] The party also wants to introduce direct-vote referendums and to change the electoral law of Poland.[22] Kukiz spoke of the ideologically diverse character of the party, as each of its MP has "a different approach to politics and different goals in the Sejm". Jakubiak represents the interests of the Polish diaspora and right-wing circles, while Jan Ardanowski represents those who "voted for the right wing but did not vote in these elections because they were disappointed with the agricultural policy pursued by PiS."[22]

For the 2025 Polish presidential election, the party presented a program based on simplifying the tax system and cutting financial obligations on businesses, speeding up court proceedings and increasing the transparency of the courts, transferring more powers to local governments, trengthening the armed forces and modernising the Polish army, introducing tax breaks and subsidies for farmers, the creation of local cooperatives and economic initiatives in rural areas, as well as greater welfare support for families and pro-family policies that would increase natural population growth.[7]

Free Republicans postulate a return to active conscription that would also apply to women, with 3-6 months of military training. It also supports selective nationalization of Polish industry, lump-sum tax on businesses and replacing the personal income tax with turnover tax. The party argues that a relationship between two people should have a utilitarian significance for the state, and thus supports marriage as a heterosexual family with children, and opposes civil partnerships. It is also in favor of a "bull tax" (Polish: bykowe), a tax on childless people.[23] The party also proposes an advanced agricultural program - it opposes the EU–Mercosur Association Agreement, calls for agricultural protectionism and subsidies, and proposes establishing a system through which state-owned companies would purchase and process Polish agricultural products in order to allow the state to control the prices. It argues that Poland should establish food sovereignty instead of relying on food imports. The party criticizes the agricultural policy of Law and Justice for focusing on subsidies instead of state intervention.[4]

Deputies

[edit]

All deputies were elected from the Law and Justice electoral lists.

Electoral results

[edit]

Presidential

[edit]
Election year Candidate 1st round Candidate 2nd round
# of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall votes % of overall vote
2025 Marek Jakubiak 150,698 0.77 (#10) Supported Karol Nawrocki 10,606,628 50.89 (#1)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Kelman, Damian (16 October 2024). "Paweł Kukiz założył nowe koło poselskie. Wolni Republikanie zamiast Kukiz'15" (in Polish).
  2. ^ a b "Marek JAKUBIAK „kandydat 0,17 procent"". Wszystko co najważniejsze (in Polish). 28 November 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  3. ^ a b "Jakubiak: Wolni Republikanie na dniach zaprezentują swój program". Bankier (in Polish). 30 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Włodarski, Arkadiusz (21 November 2024). "Ardanowski: Jest szansa obrony rolnictwa [WYWIAD]". Poza Toruń (in Polish). Toruń.
  5. ^ a b c "Jakubiak startuje w wyborach – promocja nowej formacji Wolni Republikanie" (in Polish). 28 October 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Kukiz: spróbujemy stworzyć siłę, która odsunie kosmopolitów i złych ludzi od władzy" (in Polish). 17 October 2024.
  7. ^ a b Wiak, Karol (4 April 2025). "Kim jest Marek Jakubiak? Sylwetka i program wyborczy kandydata na prezydenta Polski 2025" (in Polish).
  8. ^ a b c Krzysztoszek, Aleksandra (16 December 2024). "Polish ruling parties nominate different presidential candidates". Euractiv. Other candidates so far include the co-leader of the far-right Confederation (PfE/ESN), Sławomir Mentzen, and Marek Jakubiak of the small right-wing party, the Free Republicans.
  9. ^ "Wolność i Dobrobyt", bip.warszawa.so.gov.pl
  10. ^ Wiktor Ferfecki (24 September 2024), "Nowa formacja Jana Krzysztofa Ardanowskiego, Marka Jakubiaka i Pawła Kukiza. Chcą być jak republikanie w USA", rp.pl
  11. ^ Integrowanie polskiej centroprawicy postępuje, 5 October 2024
  12. ^ Jakubiak, Marek (25 September 2024), Czas zintegrować prawicę! Trzeba odbić naszą ojczyznę ze złych rąk [It is time to integrate the right! It is necessary to take back our homeland from evil hands] (Video) (in Polish), archived from the original on 26 September 2024, retrieved 6 January 2025 – via YouTube
  13. ^ "Paweł Kukiz zaskoczył na antenie. Założył nowe koło poselskie", polsatnews.pl, 16 October 2024
  14. ^ "Koło poselskie Wolni Republikanie", sejm.gov.pl
  15. ^ "Marek Jakubiak startuje w wyborach", tvrepublika.pl, 28 October 2024
  16. ^ Gurgul, Kamila (4 December 2024). "Spięcie w Wolnych Republikanach? Kukiz wbił szpilę koledze" (in Polish).
  17. ^ Horbaczewski, Robert (2 June 2025). "Wiadomo już, kto wygrał II turę wyborów prezydenckich - oficjalne wyniki PKW" (in Polish).
  18. ^
    • "Jakubiak w Radiu ZET: Poprę w drugiej turze Nawrockiego lub Mentzena". Radio ZET (in Polish). 12 May 2025. Jeśli Karol Nawrocki wejdzie do drugiej tury albo jak to będzie Sławomir Mentzen, to go poprę, nie będę miał też problemu z Grzegorzem Braunem. Każdy prawicowy kandydat będzie lepszy niż Rafał Trzaskowski – wskazał Marek Jakubiak, poseł Wolnych Republikanów oraz kandydat na prezydenta RP w "Popołudniowym Gościu Radia ZET". [If Karol Nawrocki makes it to the second round, or if it's Sławomir Mentzen, I will support him, and I will have no problem with Grzegorz Braun either. Any right-wing candidate will be better than Rafał Trzaskowski, said Marek Jakubiak, MP for the Free Republicans and candidate for President of Poland, on Radio ZET's Popołudniowy Gość programme.]
    • Bugaj, Marcin (19 May 2025). ""Sprawa oczywista". Jakubiak po ogłoszeniu wyników: Od początku o tym mówię". Do Rzeczy (in Polish). Według badania late poll Marek Jakubiak zdobył 0,8 proc. głosów podczas I tury wyborów prezydenckich. Polityk zadeklarował, że poprze w II turze Karola Nawrockiego. Zaapelował także do pozostałych kandydatów prawicowych, aby postąpili tak samo. [According to a late poll, Marek Jakubiak won 0.8% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election. The politician declared that he would support Karol Nawrocki in the second round. He also appealed to other right-wing candidates to do the same.]
    • "Kukiz wprost o II turze: Będę przekonywał elektorat Mentzena i Brauna". Do Rzeczy (in Polish). 20 May 2025. Kukiz przyznał że w pierwszej turze wyborów prezydenckich głosował na Sławomira Mentzena. – Ja będę próbował przekonać elektorat Konfederacji i Grzegorza Brauna do głosowania na Nawrockiego, jako zabezpieczenie przed jednowładztwem Tuska – mówił w rozmowie z dziennikarką wprost.pl. [Kukiz admitted that he voted for Sławomir Mentzen in the first round of the presidential election. ‘I will try to convince the Confederation and Grzegorz Braun's electorate to vote for Nawrocki as a safeguard against Tusk's autocracy,’ he said in an interview with a journalist from wprost.pl.]
  19. ^ "Kolejny apel o głosowanie na Karola Nawrockiego! Kukiz: Jeśli Tusk będzie miał pełnię władzy, to rozpocznie demontaż PiS i Konfederacji" (in Polish). 30 May 2025.
  20. ^ "Jakubiak: Dla nas Polska jest czymś więcej niż interesem europejskim" (in Polish). 15 May 2025.
  21. ^ "Sachajko: powinniśmy stawiać na polskie rodziny i wspierać macierzyństwo" (in Polish). 18 May 2025.
  22. ^ a b "Paweł Kukiz zaskoczył. Powołał nowe koło poselskie w Sejmie". Business Insider (in Polish). 17 October 2024.
  23. ^ Nadolczak, Natalia; Terlikowski, Tomasz (16 April 2025). "Jakubiak: Jestem za poborem powszechnym dla kobiet i mężczyzn". RMF FM (in Polish).
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